never could believe that this guy was a star...

June 2 (Bloomberg) -- George Mikan, a basketball Hall-of- Famer whose dominance during the 1940s and '50s prompted the National Basketball Association to change its rules, has died. He was 80.

NBA spokesman Mark Broussard said he didn't have details of the death. The Associated Press said Mikan had been in failing health with diabetes and kidney problems.

In his nine professional seasons, two in the National Basketball League, one in the Basketball Association of America and six in the NBA, the 6-foot-10, bespectacled Mikan won seven championships.

He was the cornerstone of the NBA's first dynasty, the Minneapolis Lakers of the early 1950s. He led the league in scoring three times and in rebounding twice, and played in the NBA's first four All-Star games.

Mikan was so dominant that the marquee at New York's Madison Square Garden read ``Geo. Mikan vs. Knicks'' prior to a 1949 game between the Lakers and Knicks.